NFL.com Ranks Broncos CB Patrick Surtain II Top-5 Player of 2021 Draft
The 2021 NFL draft class currently appears to be one of the best crops of talent in recent memory. With a number of incredible defensive players, offensive linemen, receivers, and a lauded but still pending quarterback crop, the more recent draft classes have failed to live up to the star power that 2021 had in the first round of the draft.
The Denver Broncos didn't have a first-round pick to use in either the 2022 or 2023 draft due to trades for quarterback Russell Wilson and head coach Sean Payton. But it’s hard to argue GM George Paton squandered his lone first-round selection to date in Denver when the team picked cornerback Patrick Surtain II out of the University of Alabama.
In a recent article by NFL.com analyst and former NFL running back Maurice Jones-Drew, Surtain was ranked as the third-best player from the 2021 draft heading into the 2023 season.
There hasn't been much to celebrate in Denver over the past two seasons. The franchise has had three head coaches (one interim) in two years -- with a fourth in Sean Payton on tap for 2023 -- while posting back-to-back losing campaigns. However, Surtain's play has been one of the few bright spots. The aggressive young cornerback hit the ground running as a rookie with four interceptions (one returned for a TD) and 14 passes defensed, before earning Pro Bowl and first-team All-Pro selections in Year 2. We should be talking about Surtain a lot more considering he's putting up elite production while covering top receivers week in and week out.
Only ranking behind superstar receiver Ja’Marr Chase of the Cincinnati Bengals and uber pass rusher Micah Parsons of the Dallas Cowboys, it's no stretch to state that Surtain currently is and winds up being the best player to come out of the 2021 class.
Voted as the best cornerback in the NFL in a recent ESPN poll of players, coaches, executives, and scouts, the Broncos appear to have made a great evaluation when selecting No. 9 overall in the 2021 draft. Unless Justin Fields develops into a better passer from within the pocket and Russell Wilson performs as dreadfully as he did last year going forward, it would be hard to argue Denver made the wrong choice in 2021.
If the Broncos are to maximize Surtain’s time in Denver, especially over the next two seasons on his rookie contract (three if including the fifth-year option), the defense will need to prove capable of getting after the quarterback with its defensive front this season, as well as field a cornerback worthy of being his partner on the opposite side of the field.
As much of Broncos Country likely remembers, even when rostering Champ Bailey all those years ago — arguably the greatest player at his position all time — a great corner can be neutralized if the defenders in front of him struggle to get after the quarterback or the cornerback opposite fails to live up to consistently being challenged by opposing quarterbacks.
As Jones-Drew states in the article, there indeed has not been much to celebrate in Denver over the last few seasons. However, with Surtain taking the field, the Broncos have a legitimate superstar at one of the most important positions in football.
Surtain is a game-changer entering the prime of his career. Now the question will become what the Broncos can do around Surtain to maximize his abilities and take advantage of possessing such a universal talent in today’s NFL.
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